London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

A Labour-run town hall was today accused of “misusing public funds” with a poster campaign attacking government benefit cuts.

Local government minister Brandon Lewis condemned Lambeth’s poster as “propaganda” and “lazy socialism”.

The poster is headed “On benefit? The Government are making cuts” and encourages people affected to seek advice.

The range of changes being made to benefits in April include a £26,000 overall cap, a “bedroom tax” and below-inflation rises for many benefits which are being limited to one per cent. But Communities Secretary Eric Pickles’s department attacked the Lambeth advert, which has been put up at about 50 sites, as “purely political”.

Mr Lewis said: “Lambeth have once again been caught-red handed systematically misusing public funds.

“The money wasted on this scare campaign could have been spent on protecting frontline services.”

But the council hit back, defending the poster campaign and stressing it was costing just £600 as it was not paying for the poster sites.

Leader of Lambeth Lib Peck, said: “In less than two months’ time, millions of people face big cuts in their income as a result of government benefit cuts.”

She stressed that up to one in six Lambeth residents will lose out yet many were not yet aware of the changes.

“While Eric Pickles might not want to talk about big changes to benefits, we believe that a responsible local authority has a duty to provide information, support and advice to its residents,” she added.

Under the “bedroom tax”, families assessed as having too much living space by town halls will receive a reduced housing benefit payment.

The reforms, which aim to tackle the multi-billion-pound housing benefit bill, apply to council tenants and those renting from housing associations but not claimants who rent in the private sector.

Local residents were expected to learn today whether they have been granted leave for a judicial review against two London councils over claims that their new tax policies “hit the poorest hardest”. Haringey and Hackney are among five councils in England taking legal action after the Government reformed council tax benefit.

The new plan is aimed at saving the Government £470 million. It gives 10 per cent less cash for rebates to councils, which must make up the shortfall if they are to maintain the same level of help for residents.

By limiting rebates to 8.5 per cent, councils will get a grant to help with the shortfall. But some which choose not to take the grant expect residents who previously qualified for a 100 per cent rebate to now pay up to 20 per cent. Haringey wants all residents who previously paid nothing — except disabled people — to pay 20 per cent.